A Literary journey: 2013

I unintentionally started a WW2 theme in my reading this year and ended up reading four books set in that time period. Three of the stories took place in France and by the time I'd finished I felt I'd had a good look at the effects on civilians in WW2 generally but in particular an insightful glimpse into people's lives in the devasted and demoralised French nation also.

A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute
An Australian WW2 classic, was the first one I read and I wrote about earlier this year.

I enjoyed this book so much that I decided to read Pied Piper, another of his books with a WW2 theme, which was also very good.

Then Zana, my daughter, pointed this book out to me while we were hunting in an op shop looking for vases for her sister's wedding. Fair Stood the Wind for France by H.E. Bates. She recognised the title from a poem she'd read in Reb and the Redcoats by Constance Savery (a great book, by the way). I thought it might have been from Shakespeare but it was actually written by Michael Drayton (1563-1631) and is titled Agincourt:

FAIR stood the wind for France

When we our sails advance,       

Nor now to prove our chance    

    Longer will tarry;         

But putting to the main,                        

At Caux, the mouth of Seine,    

With all his martial train

    Landed King Harry. 

    

I'd heard of the author but hadn't read anything of his before. I liked his style but I didn't think he was as skilled or as convincing as Nevil Shute. Reading his book after Pied Piper added to the picture of occupied France and together both books helped capture the turmoil and pain of the people at that time and the frustration of their allies who were trapped there. I don't think it would have done this for me if I hadn't had the groundwork laid by Nevil Shute.

Little Boy Lost by Marghanita Laski

This was a different aspect of WW2, a story which chronicled the emotional and psychological journey of a Englishman whose French wife had been killed and their young son lost during the war in France while he was absent. He returns to France after the end of the war upon receiving news that his son may have been found and the book details his conflicting emotions as he tries to come to terms with the fact that this may or may not be his son and his agony over whether he wants to open himself to the pain of an encounter.

The writing is excellent and it was a very good book but I was more engaged by Pied Piper, which had some similarities, because Nevil Shute is so good at getting into the skin of his characters.

Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier

This book reminded me of Wuthering Heights, perhaps because of its setting on the bleak and desolate English moors and the violent, brooding nature of the main antagonist. Du Maurier is a deft and engrossing writer and is very skilled at unexpected twists in her plots. Unlike Wuthering Heights there is no real sense of redemption in the story and I was left with the feeling that the heroine had escaped from one calamity only to enter upon an uncertain life with her rescuer.

Ethan Frome and False Dawn by Edith Wharton

Two excellent short stories from a wonderful author. Elizabeth Klett does a very good Librivox recording of Ethan Frome.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

A re-read of one of my most beloved books. Each time I read this story I enjoy it more. I wrote a bit about what I appreciated about it this time around here. (scroll down)

10 Ways to Destroy your Child's Imagination by Anthony Eoslen

I've shared my thoughts about this book here and here. Very thought provoking, although I didn't find anything I hadn't really encountered  before or knew intuitively, he caused me to think more deeply about choosing ways to nurture my children's imaginations. I didn't find his writing style easy to read. It reminded me a little of the way Edith Schaeffer writes, rambling and wordy, but maybe that's good because it slows me down, makes me mull and chew over the content a bit more in order to get my head around what he's saying. I'm still going over parts of the book and I've got asterisks and underlinings all through its pages.

Ourselves by Charlotte Mason

I've been reading this aloud during our together time for about a year now with children aged between 7 and 17 years. I've been enjoying this book very much, taking it slowly, and it has generated some interesting discussions.

Formation of Character by Charlotte Mason

This is Volume 5 of her Home Education series, another slow read and quite different from her other books in the series. I find I need to read a whole chapter at a time to keep the flow of this one so it's not so easy to pick up at spare minutes but like her other books it has been rich.

A Living Sacrifice by Helen Roseveare

I've seen this author's books many times over the years and knew vaguely about her life but I hadn't read anything she'd written until I picked this up secondhand a few months ago. This was a quick, easy read, not especially well written but she shared her heart and her experiences as a medical doctor in the Congo so honestly that I'd like to read her other books.

The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer

A wonderful book which I wrote about here.

Sarah's Cottage by D.S. Stevenson

I listened to this on audiobook and although it didn't have a particularly riveting storyline I liked the author's way of writing. I hadn't read anything by her before but I'd be happy to try her other books, of which there are many. I wrote some thoughts here.

Three Russian Novels.

On the Beach by Nevil Shute

This has been my year not only of the Russian novel but also the year of Nevil Shute. This book was completely different to the others above in that it was a sort of apocalyptic/dystopian look at a community of people in Australia preparing for the arrival of airborne radiation which has already wiped out the population of the Northern Hemisphere. Nevil Shute has an ability to tell a good story and to centre his tale around ordinary people and bring out the tenderness of their relationships during adversity. It had a somewhat depressing ending but what stood out to me was the way he kept the integrity and faithfulness of two of the main characters intact when other authors might have gone along with the attitude of 'Who cares, the world is about to end anyway...'

Madame Curie by Eve Curie

A biography of Marie Curie by her daughter which is available here for free. It was originally written in 1937 but was republished in 2001. I'm only part way through this book and after an initial sluggish beginning I'm beginning to enjoy it.

The Year of the Russian Novels

This has been my year of the Russian novel. Mind you, I've only read three but the first two, The Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment both by Fydor Dostoevsky were epics - not just because of the length of the books themselves but also due to the rambling narrative and the confusion of keeping track of the Russian character's names and derivatives.

I made the mistake of starting with The Brothers K. It was the most difficult of the three to follow and there were a few times when I wondered why on earth I was reading it but I plodded on as I really wanted to find out where it was going. I couldn't for the life of me begin to explain what it was about, except that it involved the Karamazov brothers, their father and a broad sweep of moral and philosophical arguments and ramifications.

Even though it was a struggle to read, my overall opinion is that it is a significant, thought provoking book and the overarching theme is one of redemption.

The impact and significance of the book doesn't lie in the story line of the book but in the themes that lie beneath its content.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the third of the Russian novels that I've read this year, was a pleasant surprise in contrast by being so much more readable, not to mention shorter, at only 143 pages.

Both Dostoevsky and Solzhenitsyn wrote out of their own personal experiences. Dostoevsky faced a firing squad in 1849 for his involvement with an illegal group but had a last minute reprieve of his sentence and was sent instead to a Siberian labour camp, while Solzhenitsyn spent eight years in a labour camp for making depreciating comments about Stalin in 1945.

Ivan Denisovich Shukov is the main character in Solzhenitsyn's story and is serving time in a Soviet prison camp during the 1950's due to the fact he was captured by the Germans during the war and subsequently is falsely accused of being a spy. The story describes one day of Ivan's (he is generally referred to in the story by the name of Shukov) life in the camp with an engrossing narrative. I was waiting for something awful to happen at the end of Ivan's day but it didn't occur. Instead as Ivan gets into his bunk at the end of a long, weary and eventful day he says...

'Glory be to Thee, O Lord. Another day over. Thank you I'm not spending tonight in the cells. Here it's still bearable.'

He lay head to the window, but Alyosha, who slept next to him on the same level, across a low wooden railing, lay the opposite way, to catch the light. He was reading his Bible again......Alyosha heard Shukov's whispered prayer, and turning to him:

'There you are, Ivan Denisovich, your soul is begging to pray. Why, then, don't you give it it's freedom?'

Shukov stole a look at him. Alyosha's eyes glowed like two candles.

'Well, Alyosha,' he said with a sigh, 'it's this way. Prayers are like those appeals of ours. Either they don't get through or they're returned with "rejected" scrawled across 'em......'

'But Ivan Denisovich, it's because you pray too rarely, and badly at that. Without really trying. That's why your prayers stay unanswered. One must never stop praying...'

This was a brilliant little book and a good introduction to Solzhenitsyn in particular and Russian novels in general.

In retrospect it would have been good to start with this book. I think Crime and Punishment would be a better introduction to Dostoevsky for a first timer but I think both books are rich, reflective and fascinating works.

Crime & Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Well, the Crime occurred in the seventh chapter of this large book, leaving the rest of the book - another thirty-two chapters and an epilogue to deal with the 'Punishment.'

Raskolnikov, the main character, believed that some men are extraordinary; they are men of genius and as such are above the law. He believed himself to be in this class of men and when his circumstances became impoverished and his anxiety increased over his mother and sister's circumstances, he planned to kill the miserly old pawnbroker he had been dealing with, considering her to 'be worthless' and that 'the world was better off without her.'                                                                                                                                  
All through the book he tries to justify his crime and he doesn't repent of his actions even when he decides to give himself up, admit that he was the murderer and gets sent off to a Siberian prison.

I kept thinking of what I'd read in The Philosophy of Education by Charlotte Mason,

'From Cain to the latest great offender every criminal act has been justified by reasoned arguments which come of their own accord to the criminal.............reason will put a good face on any matter we propose; and, that we can prove ourselves to be in the right is no justification for there is absolutely no theory we may receive, no action we may contemplate, which our reason will not affirm.'

Raskolnikov had people in his life who loved him, even when his crime was exposed, but his inner struggles kept pushing against their love and isolating him. Ultimately it was love that broke his pride and released him from his inner prison.

'Raskolnikov sat gazing, his thoughts passed into day-dreams, into contemplation; he thought of nothing, but a vague restlessness excited and troubled him. Suddenly he found Sonia beside him; she had come up noiselessly and sat down at his side. It was still quite early; the morning chill was still keen. She wore her poor old burnous and the green shawl; her face still showed signs of illness, it was thinner and paler. She gave him a joyful smile of welcome, but held out her hand with her usual timidity. She was always timid of holding out her hand to him and sometimes did not offer it at all, as though afraid he would repel it. He always took her hand as though with repugnance, always seemed vexed to meet her and was sometimes obstinately silent throughout her visit. Sometimes she trembled before him and went away deeply grieved. But now their hands did not part.

How it happened he did not know. But all at once something seemed to seize him and fling him at her feet. He wept and threw his arms round her knees. For the first instant she was terribly frightened and she turned pale. She jumped up and looked at him trembling. But at the same moment she understood, and a light of infinite happiness came into her eyes. She knew and had no doubt that he loved her beyond everything and that at last the moment had come. . . .'

Linking to Wednesday with Words